Students at the Calais School in Whippany will receive a better education and spend more time working with dogs in the Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) Program at the school thanks to a generous grant for the program from Charlotte’s Litter.

The $1500 grant will help fund the program, including training for new handlers, technology, manipulatives and dog supplies, according to Development Consultant Sue Wasserman.

“The Animal Assisted Interventions Program at The Calais School is honored to be a recipient of the Charlotte’s Litter Grant,’ said Calais Animal Assisted Therapy Coordinator Tiffany Shevchik. “We look forward to using this funding to move our program forward during the 2021-2022 school year.”

JoAnn Bacon, Founder and Executive Director of Charlotte’s Litter and the Charlotte Helen Bacon Foundation, announced the new grant in a letter to Calais Executive Director David Leitner and Wasserman. “I am pleased to announce that Charlotte’s Litter is awarding $1500 in grant money to The Calais School,” she wrote. “We are excited to contribute to your school-based program and find your therapy dog program has the potential to reach students in a way that meets our foundation’s mission.”

Leitner thanked Charlotte’s Litter and the Charlotte Helen Bacon Foundation for their generous support of the AAI program, which will benefit so many special needs students. “The Calais School is proud to serve 86 students from nine New Jersey counties as we recently celebrated our 50th year,” he said. “With the pandemic, it has been a challenge for us, as humans, on how to deliver our services effectively, but Calais has risen to the challenge.”

Mr. Leitner said he has been impressed with the way AAI handler Susan Greenbaum has delivered services to students online via Google Meet assisting with counseling sessions, occupational and speech therapy and reading using flashcards to communicate with the students. He commended Ms. Greenbaum and Mrs. Shevchik for helping to build the school’s AAI program. During the pandemic, Ms. Greenbaum has used Zoom and Google Classroom for her dogs to interact with the students and has used flashcards, which her dogs select, and rolled dice to help communicate with students.

At the Calais School, our research has shown that students feel more at ease when they interact with one of our AAI dogs, he said. Animal Assisted Therapy is structured intervention where our dogs, handlers, and related services professionals collaborate on individualized goals for their students.

The presence of our AAI dogs in and around the school building is quite beneficial, Mr. Leitner said. On a normal school day, our students are greeted in the lobby by at least one of the dogs and a handler. The sense of calm and cheer that the dogs inspire is palpable. Our dogs also attend recreational activities. During the pandemic, our dogs also assisted our students during virtual learning.

Calais currently has one handler and one program coordinator on staff working with five dogs (four in the classroom and one that works virtually). Our handlers own their own dogs and come to work as a team. The school also applies the Diamond Model, which incorporates full-time and part-time animal assisted interventions dogs into the daily behavior and academic plan for students with special needs. Calais School dogs work with students in counseling sessions, reading classes, speech lessons, and occupational therapy to improve the students’ social, emotional and behavioral skills as well as educational goals.

As part of the grant, Charlotte’s Litter will donate 15 copies of each of its two children’s books, “Good Dogs, Great Listeners” and “The Dogs of Newtown” to the Calais School, Ms. Bacon said. “The books can be used as a complimentary tool with your therapy dog program.” Information on the books is available at: www.gooddogsgreatlisteners.com.

This blog was originally published by The Calais Foundation.

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